I like Vaclav Havel. I do. How can you not? I mean he was a major voice during the revolution and he was an Artist-Politician. I like that. However, I know not everyone in this country likes him, but when he chimes in on topics both dealing with Prague, culture, government, and/or Europe I really enjoy what he has to say. I won’t go into depth on it, but I wanted to share a portion of an article (Václav Havel regrets post-communist reform left unfinished) I read recently about his thoughts about life post-communism.

Havel does not hide his disappointment at ex-communist societies following the west in embracing globalisation and rampant consumerism, the interviewer, Stefan Wagstyl, writes.

“It is a two-faced trend: on the one hand it brings people thousands of advantages and joys and pleasures; on the other, it is endangering the human race,” he quotes Havel as saying.

Pointing to a mobile phone he says: “Fifty years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined this little device could be used to make calls all over the world, to make video recordings, and to send images. If someone had told me about this then, I would have thought the future world would be a wonderful one when people would have these things and would be able to communicate better. But that didn’t happen. The world today is worse, and it is full of more traps and contradictions than it was 50 years ago.”

In reaction to Wagstyl’s objection that at least in post-communist Central Europe the world is incomparably better than 50 years ago, Havel admits that it is good that the Iron Curtain has fallen and that Communism has ended.

“But that still doesn’t mean that the world is a better place,” he points out.

What I couldn’t help but think as I read the article is that Havel is longing for something more. Something better. The Kingdom that is aloof to many Czechs. As I was saying to a friend recently, when one political party replaces another or one system replaces another, that might be good, BUT it’s not enough. If the central person isn’t Jesus it will provide momentary change, but sure enough sooner or later people will be echoing Havel, “But that still doesn’t mean that the world is a better place.” This is a lesson many of us could stand to learn, especially in America, as we are all very hopeful about what a change in the White House, come the fall, could bring. Let’s be grounded – a new president won’t solve our problems, just as merely replacing communism hasn’t solved all of Czechs problems. It could be said that new problems surfaced, or they still may have some similar problems. Now I would, as almost every Czech would, take the problems of today over those of backward regime bent on it’s one power – that being the communists. Simply, may we look to Jesus for the deep lasting change!

I’ve mentioned my concern about the ridiculously low birth rates throughout Europe before, especially in relationship to the high birth rates of immigrants here. Well it would seem that in Czech we are having somewhat of a baby boom. One of the things I’ve noticed since moving back, 10 months, ago was the amount of pregnant women and baby carriages I see on the streets. It seemed way higher. Well sure enough, the birth rate is spiking a little here right now. I’m sure it isn’t enough to counter act the amount of elderly that will be passing away in the years ahead, but at least we are moving in the right direction. In fact, I read an article entitled Crowded Prague Maternity Hospitals Curb Admissions. What the heck does that mean? Well they are actually turning Moms-to-be away because of overcrowding! Here is what one of the hospital website’s had up on their site:

“We are warning mothers that until 6 January 2009 our capacity is full and for that reason we cannot admin any more mothers for the moment.”

Wow! So many pregnant moms and babies the hospitals can’t handle the sheer volume! Here are the actual statistics:

Childbirths in the country are steadily on the rise, reaching 114,500 in 2007. The total fertility rate rose to 1.44 children per woman in childbearing age.

Another article (Czech population reaches new high) I read points out that with the higher birthrate, and immigration, the Czech Republic has reached its highest population (10,349,372) since the end of the 1980’s. All this confirms my passion for being here in this city. The population is increasing, the economy is growing and Prague’s Europe-wide influence is growing. It is as I’ve said, “Reach the Heart, Reach the Whole!”

Oh this blog is ugly today! So very sorry… Help is in sight though! Clint over at difted.com is coming to my aid very soon! Thanks Clint!

I’m preaching this weekend at church, as our pastor has returned to the States for a couple of months to raise support and etc. We, as a church, have been trucking through 1 Corinthians and seemingly breakneck-speed, in a series called “1 Corinthians – An Urban Church Guide”. It’s been great, and we only have two weeks left. With that said, I love the opportunity to preach, but c. 14 of 1 Corinthians quite possibly will be the end of me. Not really, but it is a ton to work through. The simple fact that there are a lot of debatable items in this one chapter makes it so tough. Phil, my pastor, joked that his departure was strategic so he wouldn’t have to tackle this chapter. He was joking, but was he? I’ve been studying this chapter and it’s contents for the last 3 weeks in my personal study and the amount of content is more than a little overwhelming. But I love it. Having my nose in lots of books is good for my heart! Here is a little picture of what my desk looks like these days… Love it!

Okay, I had to post a better list to be on than the one I posted earlier today. Another list that Prague is on is National Geographic Traveler’s list of the top 50 cities called Places of a Lifetime; the World’s Greatest Destinations. Prague is there! It makes sense, but it is really intriguing to me for some reason. I’m not sure why, but it is. Maybe because I know that even though this place is so beautiful there is so much more under the surface that no travel page will ever write about. I long for the Gospel to break into those dark places and bring life! I grabbed a screen shot of a few of the cities.

This morning I read one of my usual dailies (the Prague Monitor, which gets emailed to me) and there was one particular story title that didn’t surprise me – Survey: Prague 8th most expensive city in western world. Quite the contrast to the cheap city of the 90’s that every westerner thought they could live like a king in! Here is the top ten:

This is one list I wish Prague wasn’t on. This survey enforces what the majority of us Westerners living here have been feeling. Especially with the fantastic dollar! Today it came at a dismal 15.4 Kc to the US Dollar. Ouch!

Not to long ago, my good friend, Jason, and I splurged a little bit and went to one of the more ex-pat/tourist friendly places downtown, and I had one of those moments of grace that I need to have every now and then when it come to learning this ridiculously hard language. The waitress, who was a Czech, said, “You speak good. My manager, an American, has been here 6 years and she couldn’t speak half of what you have spoken tonight. Keep studying because you will get it.”

Praise God! I need these moments every now and then. It would seem that I’ve received a couple of these as of late. A week ago I went to see a movie with a friend and well I was waiting a Czech man approached me, asking me about the tramline that was under construction and how to get somewhere. I respond, in Czech, with telling him that the tramline wasn’t running through there but there was a bus and then I told him where it was. He looked at me and asked, “Odkud jste?” (Where are you from?) I responded, “Jsem z Ameriky.” (I’m from America) He had a look of shock on his face. He said he didn’t think Americans would take the time to learn Czech as well as me. This encouraged me personally, but as far as “Missiology” is concerned it was deeply saddening. This is for another post and another time.

Now I have a long way to go, but these moments keep me on that journey! I have to start getting after the language again here this summer. Or I should stay I need to continue to press forward on this journey toward fluency of this seemingly impossible, at times (okay most of the time), language.

I don’t know if it is WordPress or wonderful people out there with malicious intentions to bring down zACHhARROD.com but I’m having issues with my blog, as you can still see. I can’t figure what has happened with my theme and my attempts to figure it out haven’t helped. I’ve also been getting hit hard by spam responses all over my blog, coupled with spam hits from my comment page. To top it off, I posted yesterday and it went up fine; however, when I looked at my blog later in the evening I realized my title was there but the post was gone. This means something – I have to learn how to do all this stuff. Sorry for the ugliness and the oddity of my blog as of late. I hope to get things taken care of soon.